I Followed Through

...on a tradition I wanted to follow through on. Namely, pumpkin carving. You may remember last year when I went on and on about the strengthening power of enduring family traditions (and by "enduring" I mean lasting, not suffering through, although there certainly is an element of that). Turns out, my kids are believers. They talked about our pumpkin-carving event like it was a foregone conclusion, scheming what to carve and how to carve it. We were a little saddened to find that the farm where we've selected our pumpkins since moving to the 'Ville wasn't doing pumpkins this year. We had to settle for the generic carving pumpkins from the store. And it's just as well. When the last Monday of the month rolled around - the appointed FHE, so as to do it before Halloween, but not so far before it that the pumpkins were too gross to be lit - we had only $10 in discretionary funds remaining. That's the drawback of the once-a-month-paycheck schedule, but anyway; next year, I'm totally growing my own pumpkins: $1 in seeds equals enough pumpkins for everyone. So, I scraped together my pocket change and went to the store to get four pumpkins. George, Yvette and I are spectators anyway. Mark, Gabba and Eliza had their own gourd to gut, and Hyrum and Lucy worked as a team. We invited our friends, John and Melanie, over to participate, but I stressed it was a BYOP invitation. Melanie carved with Yvy on her lap - they're friends from Nursery - and John was the foreman for the whole activity. Hyrum and Lucy each carved two faces on their pumpkin, so it had four faces total. I was impressed at how they worked together on the same pumpkin without fighting or severing each other's fingers. Mark took his seriously, as usual, and went at it with malice and forethought (not really, but you get the idea). Eliza opted to use her stem as the nose, it it was a great success. She spent most of the evening making a really large, involved hole in the top, like a dedicated pumpkin neurosurgeon.
Gabriella made a very harmless, happy jack-o-lantern. George obliged us all by sleeping through it. I took picture, helped where help was needed, and made apple crisp that promptly and gratefully gobbled down. As I post this, Halloween has come and gone, and the jack-o-lanterns are STILL out on the front porch. And the children have already discussed the plans for next year's pumpkins.